I want a card reader that is small and light so I can throw it in my bag and not worry about it. One that is completely compatible with the universe of operating systems out there (including Windows, Mac, Linux, and Android systems that support USB card readers). I want a reader that has a short but flexible cable so I can easily get at the reader and plug/unplug cards, without the risk of things being bent or broken in my laptop’s USB port. Yet I don’t want a long cable that turns things into a tangle.

We’ve focused on these aspects to deliver a better card reader. It’s USB 2.0 so it is as affordable and compatible as possible. Supporting SD, MicroSD, and Sony Memory sticks, it handles the most popular card formats (except the larger Compact Flash (CF) cards).

A card reader like this is especially useful with certain tablets with USB mass storage support (please check your tablet for compatibility before purchase — it must have a standard USB 2.0 port and software support for standard USB card readers).

Good examples are the Asus Transformer Pad TF300T or the new MS Surface, which work with our card reader and otherwise only have a Micro SD slot.

And with the plummeting cost and increasing capacity of SD cards out there, it’s also becoming an interesting solution for backup and data storage: with several available SD card adapters. With a hub like our popular 10 port model you could connect hundreds of megabytes of cheap flash storage with several of these inexpensive adapters.